Cape Town vs Karachi - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: March 02, 2025

	Cape Town	Karachi
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1071	$442
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$2522	$1064
🏠 One person rent	$582	$188
🏘️ Family rent	$1083	$342
🍽️ Food expenses	$273	$147
🚐 Transport expenses	$124	$64.1
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$1532	$179
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Unhealthy
✈️ Airport proximity	7 km	8 km
🎓 Higher education	56	63
😀 Quality of life	58	50
🏙️ Population	3.78M	14.9M

The cost of living in Cape Town is 142% more expensive than in Karachi. Cities ranked 5016th and 8872nd ($1071 vs $442) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 3rd and 3rd in South Africa and Pakistan, respectively. Check South Africa vs Pakistan comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.4 months in Cape Town compared to 0.4 months in Karachi. Cape Town ranked 1st best city to live in South Africa vs Karachi ranked 1st in Pakistan, while ranked 5491st and 6253rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cape Town vs Karachi infographic

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Prices in Cape Town vs Karachi

Prices for goods and services in Cape Town and Karachi are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Cape Town	Karachi
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$8.4	$1.99
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$32.1	$12
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$4.87	$4.2
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$2.58	$2.17
☕ Cappuccino	$2.03	$2.16
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$1.03	$0.37
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$677	$142
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$435	$97.4
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1304	$316
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$863	$197
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$59.9	$71.4
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$93.1	$110
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$38.9	$10.6
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	11.89%	19.17%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1804	$545
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$1180	$359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$1.09	$0.21
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$39	$8.21
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$8.47	$5.29
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$1.23	$0.96
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.08	$0.81
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$1.03	$0.53
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.48	$0.98
🥚 Eggs, x12	$2.58	$1.15
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$8.33	$5.81
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$5.42	$3.27
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$7.24	$4.8
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.53	$1.01
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.45	$0.57
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.47	$0.82
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.57	$0.65
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.33	$0.39
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.13	$0.54
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.62	$0.27
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$1.43	$0.82
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$5.48	$3.49
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.39	$1.38
🚬 Cigarette pack	$3.02	$2.04
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$4.02	$1.65
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$3.17	$2.9
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$2.11	$1.37
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.49	$0.98
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$34.4	$16.7
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$6.22	$4.05
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$35.7	$12.9
💇 Haircut, simple	$8.05	$1.95
👖 Brand Jeans	$51	$16.8
👟 Brand Sneakers	$104	$57.6
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$204	$50.7
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$4806	$1405

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cape Town

Distance	City	Cost of living
54 km or 33 mi	Paarl	$1147
99 km or 62 mi	Worcester	$619
371 km or 231 mi	George	$743
644 km or 400 mi	Uitenhage	$840
662 km or 411 mi	Port Elizabeth	$901
664 km or 413 mi	Upington	$699
754 km or 468 mi	Makhanda	$763
821 km or 510 mi	Komani	$915
833 km or 518 mi	Kimberley	$814
845 km or 525 mi	Bhisho	$1332
882 km or 548 mi	East London	$766
912 km or 567 mi	Bloemfontein	$657
950 km or 590 mi	Mafeteng	$567
999 km or 621 mi	Maseru	$621
1002 km or 622 mi	Mthatha	$852
1029 km or 639 mi	Teyateyaneng	$500
1030 km or 640 mi	Welkom	$748
1034 km or 643 mi	Mariental	$827
1092 km or 679 mi	Butha-Buthe	$535
1092 km or 679 mi	Kroonstad	$768
1113 km or 692 mi	Klerksdorp	$722
1135 km or 705 mi	Mmabatho	$780
1155 km or 718 mi	Potchefstroom	$695
1187 km or 737 mi	Rehoboth	$792
1194 km or 742 mi	Lobatse	$665
1198 km or 745 mi	Kanye	$664
1208 km or 751 mi	Vanderbijlpark	$773
1217 km or 756 mi	Vereeniging	$672
1231 km or 765 mi	Pietermaritzburg	$640
1244 km or 773 mi	Soweto	$923
1250 km or 777 mi	Rustenburg	$889
1260 km or 783 mi	Gaborone	$691
1261 km or 783 mi	Molepolole	$628
1261 km or 784 mi	Johannesburg	$993
1267 km or 788 mi	Randburg	$837
1269 km or 789 mi	Windhoek	$862
1270 km or 789 mi	Sandton	$953
1271 km or 790 mi	Durban	$809
1277 km or 794 mi	Gobabis	$813
1279 km or 795 mi	Walvis Bay	$740

Cities near Karachi

Distance	City	Cost of living
148 km or 92 mi	Hyderabad	$334
208 km or 129 mi	Nawabshah	$325
213 km or 132 mi	Mirpur Khas	$394
324 km or 201 mi	Larkana	$338
324 km or 201 mi	Bhuj	$288
366 km or 227 mi	Sukkur	$339
406 km or 252 mi	Jacobabad	$325
445 km or 277 mi	Porbandar	$333
480 km or 298 mi	Rajkot	$311
564 km or 351 mi	Mehsana	$389
593 km or 368 mi	Quetta	$266
601 km or 374 mi	Ahmedabad	$452
604 km or 375 mi	Gandhinagar	$415
626 km or 389 mi	Bhavnagar	$298
629 km or 391 mi	Jodhpur	$366
643 km or 399 mi	Pali	$324
643 km or 399 mi	Nadiad	$382
645 km or 401 mi	Chabahar	$585
675 km or 419 mi	Udaipur	$310
679 km or 422 mi	Dera Ghazi Khan	$297
683 km or 425 mi	Bahawalpur	$342
683 km or 425 mi	Iranshahr	$605
692 km or 430 mi	Vadodara	$376
711 km or 442 mi	Godhra	$371
719 km or 447 mi	Bikaner	$297
723 km or 449 mi	Surat	$771
736 km or 457 mi	Multan	$392
745 km or 463 mi	Navsari	$286
761 km or 473 mi	Kandahar	$468
769 km or 478 mi	Bhilwara	$340
775 km or 482 mi	Khanewal	$361
785 km or 488 mi	Ajmer	$279
792 km or 492 mi	Lashkargah	$476
796 km or 494 mi	Zahedan	$829
812 km or 504 mi	Burewala	$356
836 km or 519 mi	Ratlam	$311
845 km or 525 mi	Vasai	$284
865 km or 537 mi	Muscat	$1090
866 km or 538 mi	Sikar	$350
874 km or 543 mi	Zabol	$552